Kreuziger v. Milwaukee County, Wisc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-County and Sewage District’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-property owner’s federal takings-clause action, alleging that defendants’ removal of dam on Milwaukee River, which led to four-foot drop in river’s previous high-water mark along his river front property amounted to taking of his riparian right to prior surface water level without prior compensation. Record showed that Wisconsin’s Dept. of Natural Resources authorized removal of dam, and Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiff had no property right to have river remain at prior, artificially created surface level. Moreover, plaintiff’s interest in river’s surface level was only privilege that must yield to government’s authority to regulate navigable waterways under public trust doctrine.